Love and War
by RosesInJamJars
Summary: Friendship, family and love. A tale of the world beyond the gates of Hogwarts, with a fair share of drama, and growing up on the side.
1. Chapter 1

Twigs snapping underfoot alerted her to the presence of another visitor. She stayed where she was, not moving her eyes from the head stones before her.

"You're early." He observed.

"You're late."

She inhaled and turned around, smiling at the sight of her dearest brother.

He opened his arms and she walked into them, relishing his familiar shape, scent and heartbeat.

"I've missed you, Sybil."

"You too Remus." They broke apart and smiled at each other. He looked shabbier than ever, and his hair was greying far too early for a man of merely thirty eight, but she was proud of him all the same.

"I wish you'd let me buy you a new pair of robes."

"Put it on your Christmas list, then." They smiled, and turned back to the grave, Sybil crossing around it to face her brother. Rain was dripping insistently from overhead, dropping obnoxiously onto her face, and down her nose, despite the hanging hood of her cloak.

"So, it's been twelve years, then, eh?" He asked, his voice bare of its previous warmth.

"Our numbers have dropped something drastic since."

"The span of two days, and they were all gone." She laughed bitterly in response, and produced a bunch of lilies from the folds of her cloak, arranging them bossily on the damp earth.

"Why is it, that you always bring lilies, yet she hated it when people gave them to her?"

"Because they're still her favourite- James' too." Remus simply nodded.

"Any news on Harry, then?" She asked.

"At his friends' house."

"The Weasley's?"

"They're the ones." He paused for a moment, as though in mental debate. "I've got a job at the school." She whipped her head up.

"_When?_"

"Last week. Dumbledore wrote to me, asking me specifically."

"But-"

"He'll deal with my time of the month." She grinned.

"That hasn't been funny for years, dear."

"Yet you smile." They chuckled, then drifted their gazes down to the ground again, and returned to solemness. "I'll watch out for him."

"Good. You get Lucius' son, but."

"I'll fail him."

"I hope so."

"What about Severus?" This made Remus pause, thoughtfully.

"I'll deal with it."

They lapsed into companionable, respectful silence once more, listening to the patter of rain on the dirt around them. After some courage building from Remus, he finally asked, "Have you heard?"

"About?"

"Him." Her breathing hitched and became erratic, and then she nodded.

"I suppose you still think him guilty." She asked, after the longest of pauses.

"I suppose you still think him innocent." She snapped her head up look at him. "I think it, because it is true. I loved that man, Remus. I know you find it difficult to believe, but I know within my heart that he would never do what he has be imprisoned for."

"Don't bite my head off, woman! I know that you feel that way, and I respect your opinions, but now is not the time to argue about it, not over _them_." He said, finishing his sentence in a hiss. She nodded, and stared at her feet. After the longest of pauses, he asked, "But you've never doubted?" She shook her head.

"Never."

After some minutes, he laughed sadly, and she looked up at him.

"What?" She asked.

"Do you remember, when we all became friends?" A smile played over her lips, and she hugged her cloak tighter around her.

* * *

"…bloody Remus, with his bloody woman, stupid hag…" Sybil muttered as she pulled her trunk, with effort, down the aisles of the Hogwarts express, attempting to seek an empty carriage in which she could wait for Lily to finish her prefect duties, and read about the exploits of Lizzy and Mr Darcy. Again. "_I'm a prefect and I'm so superior, I can skive off early and chew Fiona's face off!" _she muttered in a terrible imitation of him. Younger students ducked out of her path as they usually did when she was raging, so it came as quite a surprise, to say the least, when she felt her legs being swept out from under her, headed in the direction of the corridor roof, and her eyes becoming level with James Potter's kneed.

"What in the name of sanity just happened?" She cried, lashing out at him with her fists, but succeeding in only swinging by her feet.

"B-but-" James stuttered in surprise. Sybil rolled her eyes, then shrieked, when she realised that the skirt of her pretty floral summer dress was hanging in the same direction of her wildly untamed brown curls, and she abandoned her task of attacking James to rectify this, earning a few wolf whistles from some particularly rowdy Hufflepuffs.

"OH, BITE ME!" She shouted angrily, and squirmed about.

"But it was only meant to work when Remus went past!" James protested, finally having found his voice.

"Well, you did a very good job then dearie, you only missed by one Lupin!" She snarled. Peter scuttled out behind James.

"Moony's going to kill us!" he asked, in a simpery little voice.

"Yes, Remus will, unless he's to preoccupied with his precious Fiona, and I do not wish to know what happened for him to gain that nickname, not get me down!" She shouted.

"James!" Scolded a deep voice from the compartment which Peter had emerged from. "She's Moony's sister, let her down for god's sake!" James nodded and retrieved his wand, pointing it at her feet-

"ARE YOU MAD, MAN?" She cried. "I DON'T WANT TO LAND ON MY HEAD!" At this point, the deep voice emerged from the compartment, revealing Sirius Black, who reached up to the ceiling for her ankles, while James gripped her shoulders, and the two tall boys flipped her around, setting her roughly back on her feet, causing her to stumble.

"Thank you." She said, once her breathing had aligned.

"Sorry about that, we're working through the technicalities now." Sirius apologised conversationally, leaning against the train window.

"They're planning on using it on-"

"Severus, I figured." Sybil interrupted, rolling her eyes.

"How did you-"

"It wasn't such a difficult leap." She snapped, fixing her hair in an irritated fashion. She was in the same year as these boys, who had been driving her mad for four years. Not only did they insist upon picking on her and Lily's friend Severus, but they enjoyed disrupting classes and dipping twelve year old Sybil's pigtails in ink bottles in Transfiguration. Not to mention that she had been completely in love with Sirius Black in third year, and spent the rest of the fourth completely mortified of being in love with her brother's best friend, and the biggest womanizer in their year. The last thing she needed this morning was these idiots. After a sizable awkward silence, she exhaled loudly. "I'm sorry, that was a bit harsh. Just in a bad mood today, and your antics didn't help it along." She smiled and began re packing her satchel that had burst open when it swung off her shoulder.

"What happened?" James asked, banding down to help her pick up her stuff, while in the background, Sirius began knuckle-rubbing Peter's head.

"Oh, it's just a bit silly. Remus and Lily both ditched me for prefect duties, and Severus is with Mulciber again, who apparently 'isn't that bad', and this morning our father was being really weird and clingy." She unburdened, stuffing a slightly more battered _Pride and Prejudice_ into her bag. "Thank you." She told James, smiling as she stood up.

"Well, I'd better head off, I need to wait for Lily to find me-"

"You can sit with us, if you like." James blurted out, the offer sounding like one big word. She smiled.

"You really are desperate, aren't you?" He inspected his feet with rosy cheeks, and nodded. She laughed slightly at his awkwardness, and sighed dramatically. "Well, I suppose you've been nice enough to me today- I think I can look aside from your prattishness and assist you in seducing my best friend for a while." Before he realized what she'd said, she'd gripped the handle of her trunk and pulled it inside the compartment.

LINE BREAK

"Silly boys…" She muttered, smiling with fond sentiment, as she recalled what happened next.

* * *

She pulled her wand out of her bag, and went to send the trunk onto the luggage rack, when a muscular arm reached past her and hoisted it up for her. For an instant, she smelt something… hair product, violets and… frying mushrooms? But then it faded, the moment passed, and she smiled her thanks at Sirius Black. Oddly enough, this was the most attention he'd paid her since their ink bottle days. Sitting in the corner, beside the window, she pulled the battered copy of _Pride and Prejudice_ from her satchel and opened it, while the boys began a torrent of jokes and insults back and forth between each other, and mostly ignoring her. After a few minutes, she heard Lily's name, and her head snapped up, she was nowhere in sight, so she turned to the boys, with a questioning look on her face. On the same side as her, with a seat between them, Sirius was laughing with a cruel twinge- the laugh of a teaser, while Peter rolled around next to James in hysterics, the latter having his eyes directed at his shoes. She smiled and leaned towards him, grasping his hand in consolation.

"If you ask me, you need to stop acting like a prat." Suddenly all eyes were on her in a frozen shock. Was defender of Lily Evans, the annoyed unwanted advance-ee giving James advice, on how to make those advances wanted? "She can't stand you when you act like an arrogant jerk. If you ever want to go out with her, you need her to stop hating you, for a start." She leaned back, and continued to read, and after a moment, realised that they were staring at her.

"What?" She asked innocently. "She tells me things." After another moment's silence, James asked,

"What sort of things?" She glanced up from the exploits of Mr Collins.

"Ah, ah, you don't get to cheat." And with that she went back to her book. After a while the familiar call was, and the lady with the sweet trolley arrived. Sybil stood and made her way to the door and after a moment, she realised that Sirius was a step behind her, she slowed, and they fell into step together. From the side, she couldn't help but admire his muscular arms, curly dark hair and strong profile, and the scent of her favourite things filled her nose again. But she mentally slapped herself and scolded herself to stay out of it- if he wasn't the biggest womaniser she'd ever met, she didn't know what.

"So, where's Remus?" He asked after a moment. "He wasn't with you, and it's not his man period-"

She stopped walking and spun about to face him.

"You know?" She asked shrilly. He looked vaguely mystified at her outburst, but nodded all the same.

"Yes, it wasn't to difficult to figure out. He knows we know, but." After a moment, she nodded.

"I'm sorry, I just get a bit protective sometimes." He smiled and offered her his arm, which she accepted tentatively. After a moment, she responded. "To answer your question, yes, I knew where he is. He's down the other end of the train with _Fiona_." She said, mocking the name with an animated voice.

"Fiona?" Sirius asked, suddenly alert. "The Ravenclaw girl?" She nodded glumly.

"It's been going on all summer. He's always talking about _Fiona_, or writing to _Fiona_, or meeting up with _Fiona_, and he never thinks about anything else, and gets touchy when you ask him why _Fiona's_ so great anyway." She shuddered. "It's downright irritating, especially when she's a right old cow and he can't see-"

"Language please dear." The trolley lady warned, and she smiled apologetically.

* * *

The carriage door was ripped open with a violent rattle, and Sybil shrank slightly under the evil glare of two people who were very cross indeed.

"Sybil." Lily and Remus scolded in unison. She imagined Lily was cross because of her choice of fellow compartment dwellers, and Remus, because… well Sirius was sitting beside her now. Before anything could come of this, Sirius, James and Peter all simultaneously leaped on Remus, sending him stumbling back into the train window on the other side of the corridor. Lily rolled her eyes, and plopped smartly on James' vacated seat.

"What's up with this?" She asked.

"Great to see you too Lily, I love your hair Lily, nice job, prefect!" Sybil cried in mock joy.

"Sybil…"

"They pulled a prank on me intended for my brother, and then they asked if I would sit with them, and I accepted, because the other compartments are full of people gossiping about him." She said, pointing to Sirius, and ignoring the tiniest of pangs in her stomach. Of what it was a pang of she wasn't sure, but it was not a pleasant pang, that was certain. At this Sirius extracted himself from the bundle of testosterone, and leant against the compartment door.

"They just can't help it." He said cockily. Sybil rolled her eyes in a similar fashion to Lily, but Sybil couldn't help but smile once more.

"Something amuse, you, Lupin?" he asked striding towards her playfully.

"Nothing concerning you, Black." She replied in a similar tone. A grin formed on his handsome face.

"Oh, we'll see about that." And in a moment, he'd scooped her up, and thrown her over his shoulder, and began spinning around very quickly indeed.

"Black!" She shouted between bursts of laughter. "Put me down before you hurt somebody!"

"Padfoot, put my sister down, now." Came Remus' most serious tone. Sirius quickly stopped spinning and set her down lightly, both of them stumbling slightly. They fell back into their seats, and erupted into fits of laughter. Remus looked at them with a pained expression, but said nothing, and perched down on the other side of Sirius in silence. From across the cabin, she could hear James talking.

"Hello there, Lily-flower, come to visit me?" Lily shot a glare at Sybil, as if to say, _'You so owe me.' _

Sybil's smile slowly faded, but her mood did not. And for some ungodly reason, sitting next to Sirius Black made a newfound tremble go down her spine…

* * *

Sybil was tucked away in her corner, while Lily and Remus played chess, and James and Peter talked. After a moment, she realised that Sirius was leaning over her shoulder.

"Something I can help you with?" She asked, in slight annoyance. He blushed slightly and backed up a bit- that was certainly not the infamous Sirius Black- tough guy and badass. _Blushing? _

"I'm sorry to interrupt, I know it's annoying when people do that…" he muttered. "Just… is that a muggle book?" He asked, somewhat curiously. She smiled a bit, and closed it.

"Yes it is- and one of the greatest, at that." He ogled it for a moment, then mumbled.

"I've never read a muggle book before- never been allowed to." She stared at him in amazement for a moment, the asked,

"How fast do you read?"

"About two a week." She looked at him, then hauled her trunk down and opened it, gaining everybody's attention. From the pocket inside the lid, she pulled out several books, and piled them into his arms.

"There's The Fellowship of the Ring, Sherlock Holmes, a few Georgette Heyer's – they're a bit girlie though, and the Magic Faraway Tree." She pulled her uniform from her trunk while it was open.

"See how you go with those, then come and get some more if you like them."

Lily, having also acquired her robes left the compartment with Sybil, both of them ignoring Remus complaining that Sybil had stolen his books, and made their was to the restrooms.

"Syb, did I just see correctly?" Lily asked in mock amazement. "Were my eyes deceiving me?" Sybil shot her an annoyed look. "Or did you just lend your books? To Sirius Black, or all people?" Sybil sped up her pace. "You never you're your books unless you absolutely trust the person-" she continued, before suddenly bursting out into song "Someone's got a crush, someone's got a crush, someone's got a crush-" She sang.

"Lily!" Sybil cried, gently grasping her best friend's arm. "I just properly met him a few hours ago! Not to mention he's the biggest man whore ever!"

"Except for the great wizard that I did my essay on last year for the history of magic!" Lily protested. "Manfred the Man-whore! The title was _The Biggest Man Whore Ever_!"

"And what, in that essay, did you get marked down for?" Sybil asked. Lily hung her head.

"The title." She muttered, miserably.

"That's right. If I had a crush on Sirius Black, my life would lose goodness how many marks, not to mention that Remus would hate it- oh!" She cried in dawning comprehension. "I just got that nickname!"

* * *

_**Slight edit of the original! New update tonight Xx**_


	2. Chapter 2

Dumbledore gave his speech, and with a clap of his wizened hands, food appeared on the table, the sudden scent tickling her nostrils tantalizingly. As she loaded her plate, she glanced across the table and saw Sirius staring in her direction. He winked at her and turned back to his plate, and she found herself blushing a deep scarlet.

Oh no. This can't be happening. Bloody hell.

* * *

_Some weeks later..._

* * *

"Lupin!" Came the rough bark from across the Gryffindor table.

"Black!" Sybil barked back in the same tone, not taking her eyes from today's prophet. After a moment, she saw a figure slump into the chair opposite hers and she glanced up.

"Sooo?" She asked, setting down her paper, much to the annoyance of the wizard on the picture facing the table. He raised an eyebrow, and continued to butter his toast.

"So what?"

"Last night!" She cried, accentuating her statement with her hands. "Winona?" A wolfish grin crossed Sirius' handsome face. She leaned across the table. "How far?" She asked excitedly.

"Second." He replied. She laughed and clapped her hands, leaning back into her chair. "How did you do that?" He asked, "You're a better Wingman than my Wingman!" he exclaimed, patting James roughly on the back, causing him to choke on his bacon.

"It's because I'm not a Wingman, you git." She informed him, shaking her paper open. "I'm a Wingwoman." He grinned and hummed happily as he munched on his toast. The lengths to which she would go to prove that she had no feelings for this man were astronomical, and she hated herself only a little bit for that- after all, did the conversation they just had not prove that he wasn't a viable romantic option? After a moment, she received a sharp poke in the ribs from beside her.

"Don't look now-" Lily began, and immediately Sybil whipped her head around. Lily sighed in annoyance, but said nothing. "But it seems as though you've made a few enemies."

"Bloody brilliant." Sybil muttered darkly, glancing around the hall, until she saw the group of fourth years glaring at her- one of them even appeared to be holding a voodoo doll with a mop of long curly hair.

"Isn't that the Sirius squad?" She asked- causing Sirius to look up, and follow her gaze. He grinned fondly and turned back to his toast.

"Ah, my girls." He muttered and continued to chew. Lily coughed pointedly and he looked up again.

"Wha?" he asked, with a mouthful of chewed bread. Lily flinched at the sight, but Sybil giggled secretly to herself.

"Those girls are after my best friend's blood- the least you can do is warn them off!" She cried. Sirius nodded, and swallowed noisily, causing Lily to roll her eyes.

"Oi, ladies!" He shouted. They all looked up, and blushed the same shade of rosatia. "This one's of limits." He said, gesturing vaguely to Sybil, who raised an eyebrow.

"This one?" She asked. Sirius gave her a pained kind of grunt and clarified, "Sybil Ariadne Lupin is not to be harmed by your slightly vicious, stalkerish, psychotic tendencies." They all nodded earnestly, and grinned like a little swarm of Cheshire cats. He turned back to her and Lily and looked at them questioningly.

"Very nice, Black." He chuckled and nodded, before viciously attacking his toast.

"My, my Lily Pad," James grinned, leaning across Sirius, "you are looking fine this morning." Lily turned to Sybil.

"Make him stop." She begged, eyes wide.

"James, stop." Sybil muttered vaguely. James smiled and shook his head.

"Sirius, make him stop."

"Yames, you're comin' off li' a bi' o' a 'rick." Sirius informed James, with a mouthful of egg. After a tense moment, James wiped a speck of Sirius' breakfast from his cheek, and looked away awkwardly. Sirius swallowed.

"Works every time." He mouthed to Sybil, who could not restrain her giggles. His hair came forward as he leaned towards her to impart this information, lightly brushing his cheekbones, and his stormy grey eyes flashed with a fondness reserved for when he talked to his friends, and she could feel her stomach growing warm and a happy sensation spread from her chest, down her arms to her fingers. From the other side of Lily, Remus flashed her a strange look, but she ignored it, and leaned towards him.

"You should write a book." She whispered, their faces closer than normal, but nothing too shocking. He broke the intimate moment, by leaping up, sending his chair clattering to the ground, and shouting

"Challenge accepted!" Before sprinting out of the great hall. James looked up and quirked an eyebrow.

"He's writing a guide to farming pigs." Lily informed him icily, before gripping Sybil's arm and dragging her from her chair with more force than Lily seemed able to hold.

"I haven't finished my food!" She cried in indignation. "I'm hungry!" But Lily did not listen, until she found herself being roughly deposited in a chair at the Slytherin table, one between Severus and herself, which soon was occupied by a raging Lily.

"Trouble with the Marauders?" He asked in his usual droning tone (with a slight hint of sex appeal, if you closed your eyes when he spoke).

"James was being a git again, and Sirius was only slightly better." Lily fumed. Sybil reached around Lily and slipped Severus' plate from in front of him, causing a mew of protest. She listened to the conversation, and she hungrily snapped up the remains of Severus' breakfast.

"I've told you about them time and time again, but you never listen."

"They're in my house and most of my classes, what am I supposed to do?"

"Let us deal with them."

"No!" snapped Lily and Sybil (the latter spraying crumbs before her, eliciting stared from the surrounding Slytherins).

"Not with the sort of magic you lot are practicing!"

"I don't want Mulciber getting his hands on my brother!" Sybil chorused, setting down the plate. "And it's not like we can avoid them anyway, because they've started following us around this year, all of a sudden, it's bloody irritating." Lily smirked to herself.

"Well, we know why that is, don't we?" Sybil glared at her best friend.

"What happened to never speaking of it again on pain of chocolate deprivation?" She snapped jokily, and Lily grinned.

"What's this?" Severus asked. Before Sybil could say anything, Lily was off.

"Sirius Black's in luurrrve with Sybil, and Sybil likes him, but she won't admit it." Sybil groaned and cuffed Lily around the head.

"That's it missy, no chocolate for you!"

"You messed up my hair!" Lily whined, cuffing Sybil back, as the pair giggled, she noticed somebody staring at her intently.

"Regulus, if that's your idea of being subtle…" she warned, turning to face Sirius' younger brother. He stared at her for a split second more, then smiled politely (though it did not reach his eyes) and turned back to his food. She shook her head and turned back to Lily.  
"And anyway, in a perfectly innocent statement of friendship and nothing more." She said, staring pointedly at Lily sho she did not interrupt. "Sirius was a perfect gentleman- he told James to stop, and James did stop."

"He sprayed egg in Peter's hair."

"And James stopped!"

* * *

Third period, while the fifth year Charms class waited for Professor Flitwick to arrive, Sybil suddenly found a wad of paper folded in half with crude ink drawing and messy scrawl on the front. She looked up at Sirius' grinning face, then back down at the book.

"That took me a whole free period, and a Transfiguration lesson to complete."

She opened it as he slid into the seat beside her, and watched her read, waiting for her reaction.

_A Beginner's Guide to dealing with James Potter and other big heads, by an anonymous, yet awesome bloke. _Beneath this title was a picture of a stick figure that Sybil assumed was James being beaten up by stick figure Sybil, while stick figure Lily laughed in the background. She laughed and laughed as she read, and soon found herself falling about on her seat, before sliding sideways and landing on Sirius' chest while she spasmed with giggles. After a good few minutes, an aching belly and sides, she realised that she was practically lying on Sirius, and while she was quite content to stay there, her whole defiant principle was against it, not to mention Lily was looking at her pointedly, Sirius was grinning down at her, and Remus was glaring at her in annoyance. Also, Professor Flitwick was looking at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Something amusing, Miss Lupin?" He asked. While Sybil was sure that she wasn't going to get a detention from the tiny professor, she sat up straight, folded her hands on her desk and said with an entirely emotionless face and monotone voice, "No, Professor. Nothing is remotely funny in my immediate vicinity, save for an educational pamphlet I have just read, written by an anonymous, yet awesome bloke." Sirius beside her let out the smallest of amused whimpers, of laughter he could barely contain. The entire class was staring now, at both Sybil's straight, frosty composure, and Sirius twitching with compressed mirth. After a long moment, he looked away, rolling his eyes fondly. At this point, Sirius 'accidently' swept his book off his desk, and bent underneath to retrieve it, and relieve himself of his giggling. From across the classroom, she could feel Severus glaring at her, and she hunched over her parchment as she began copying down notes that were appearing on the board from the end of Professor Flitwick's wand. After a moment, Sirius' shaggy head appeared, and he glanced at her, she caught his eye, and they shared a secret smile, one meant for just them.

* * *

Thirty-eight year old Sybil sat at her breakfast table, all by herself, save the owl that swept in through the open window, dropping a package on her lap. While he helped himself to her bacon, she tore open the package, and a wad of familiar papers dropped out. She stared at them for a long while, then picked up the note written in the familiar looping type of her brother, with the simple words: 'Packing reveals secrets of the past, and things you didn't realise you had, because your dormitory mate was a total slob, and half his stuff ended up in your trunk- R'

She let out a strangled sob, and pressed the yellowing parchment to her face, relishing its memories, of a better time, of a happier time.

Outside her window, concealed by the chrysanthemums, a large black dog with eyes of grey whimpered at the sight of a woman crying tears that had been cried out years ago, while he could do nothing to help.

* * *

Her path towards dinner was cut short by a hand grabbing her elbow and roughly pulling her behind a pillar, here she came face to face with her brother.

"What the hell's going on?" He asked sharply. She looked at him quizzically, but said nothing. "You're practically fornicating over Sirius!" He hissed after a moment of silence. Affronted, she drew back sharply.

"I was not! Don't be so thick- it's better than what you do with _Fiona_."

"Be that as it may, Fiona is a lovely person-"

"And one of your best friends is not?"

"No, he's not he's a player and he is, as you say your self, _one of my best friends_."

"So? Why can't we be friends, then?"

"You can, but you even think about chewing his face off for no more than a second, and I will be onto you faster than the golden snitch." And after a pause. "We're twins, Syb. I can read you, and I don't want him to break your heart."

He began to walk away, leaving Sybil standing in his wake.

"Remus!" She called over the kerfuffle in the entrance hall, causing him to turn around. "We're twins. I can read you too."

* * *

_**Thank you for the reviews and favourites, they made my week!  
I own nothing, please drop a review!  
Thanks luvvies! See you later!**_


	3. Chapter 3

After she and Remus had parted ways, she decided that she could do with a glass of Firewhisky, and a thorough dry out. Stepping through the door of the wizard's pub, she pulled off her sopping cloak, and hung it by the door. Striding to the bar she ordered her drink and went to sit by the roaring fire. She'd been there, staring into its' depths, when the conversation of a group of warlocks near by floated by her.

"…escaped, somehow."

"It's terrifying, Marlene'n the kids are worried sick."

"He's a menace, he ought to be locked up!"

"He was, Rodger, remember. That's the whole point."

"Oh, yeah."

"But he killed three of his best friends! What a devil, what a monstrous bloody traitor-"

Enraged, Sybil could listen to no more. She stood up abruptly, slammed the glass down on the table before her, and strode from the pub. Sybil waited until she was a few metres down the road, before she let the tears fall, disguised by the pouring rain.

* * *

"We should be studying." Lily observed lazily, next to Sybil. After a few moments of relaxed silence, Sybil replied,

"If you can be bothered moving, go and revise, then." Lily didn't move.

"Alright, you made your point." She muttered, laying back down on the grass. She, Sybil, Alice and Emiline were stretched out on the grass around the lake, enjoying the last of the summer. They had been back at Hogwarts for about a month, and since their first morning, they had acquired a band of followers. Wherever she and Lily went, the Marauders were sure to go- much to the annoyance of the other girls in the school, not to mention Lily. She was absolutely outraged at the prospect of James Potter stalking her, even going to so far as to employ 'foul language', as she called it, in her last 'Reasons-why-I-hate-James-Potter' rant (always delivered in loud, loud tones), while Sybil was more concerned that Sirius would put the moves on her, because the way he'd been acting lately suggested that he was very, very keen. As far as people were concerned, Sirius Black was an annoying friend of her twin brother's to her, and anything romantic between them was too 'icky' for words. Though this news spread like wildfire around the school, this did not seem to hinder Sirius. Whenever the watchful eyes of Remus were otherwise occupied, Sirius the flirt would spring to life, and to him, any other girl became- well, a guy. Those rare moments were few and far between, but Sybil secretly treasured them. Her only problem was Remus. Part of the reason she was avoiding any romantic interest in Sirius was for Remus. He would freak out if she dated anybody, let alone one of his best friends, whose habits Remus was unfortunately no stranger to, having been friends with Sirius for four years.

Not to mention the fact that he was a player, and while they were friends, when it came to emotions, she would not trust that man as far as she could throw him.

"Syb, tell me again why you won't admit that you like Black?" Emeline asked from over Lily. Sybil sighed.

"Because I don't."

"But he's very fine." Alice supplied.

"That he is," Sybil admitted, "but his personality isn't."

"He's nice, Sybil, as much as it pains me to admit it, but he is nice, deep down, a few hundred miles beneath the creepy sugar coating, he's a decent bloke," Lily said, joining in, "you are friends with him, after all!" That was true; they had been spending more and more time together of late, often sitting next to each other at breakfast and during classes.

"Exactly. And that's why I won't go out with him." Sybil replied. This seemed to subdue her friends for the moment, but unfortunately, due to their newfound silence, they head a conversation.

"I said no, Padfoot!" a voice that Sybil recognised as her brother's cried, angrily. They were somewhere above the embankment that she was lying on, and she assumed that they couldn't see her.

"Remus, this is different, I promise!"

"You say that now…"

"Because I mean it!"

"Now why don't I believe you?" Sirius' deep tones protested vigorously.

"Remus! That's not fair! I promise that no harm-"

"Not fair? Not fair?! Let me tell you what's not fair, not wanting to see my sister hurt, having to look after her on my father's orders, not have her know about it, and then have you come crashing in to ruin it all!"

"I won't ruin it!"

"Oh won't you? Name one girl down there you haven't either perved on or made out with!" Remus cried, pointing towards the lake, Sybil tensed, but he didn't see her, thankfully.

"You have a point, but there is a first time for everything, and I know this is different! Remus, you have to understand, I've never felt like this before, about anybody, she's special… she's kind of magic," here his voice became slightly wistful "she's not like the other girls, she's wonderful! I finally understand how James can go on and on about Evans all the damn time-"

"It took you four years to notice that she existed!" Remus' scoff interrupted.

"Not true! I just didn't notice her in _that way_ until I spoke to her!" Lily's hand found Sybil's and squeezed, giving her as much comfort as she could with out drawing attention to herself from the arguing boys.

"Why does that not comfort me?" Remus responded sarcastically. "Sirius, you notice every girl in _that way_! You notice every living thing with two legs in _that way_!"

"What do I have to do to-"

"Nothing! Because you can't! She's my sister! It's a direct violation of the bro code or whatever it is! Let alone the fact that you're one of my best friends, you're a player, Sirius, and old habits die hard." Tears were welling up in Sybil's eyes and threatening to escape. Why didn't he trust her? Or Sirius for that matter? And why was her father making him 'look after her?' she could look after herself perfectly well.

"Remus, can't you just-" This was just too much. Pulling up her socks to the proper height, she stood up, marched over to her brother, and slapped him across the face. The crack rang out across the lake, and drew attention from many passers by.

"You bastard." She snarled into her brother's horror stricken face, tears falling free. "Why can't you trust me, you git?" And with that she swept off into the castle, running for her dormitory as fast as she could.

Throwing herself down on her bedspread, she drew the curtains around her and sobbed into her pillow, quietly, albeit, but sobbed nonetheless. She'd never felt so betrayed in her life- no, not betrayed. What was wrong with her? Sirius Black delivers a passionate speech about how amazing she is, and she starts tossing that word around like a quaffle? She wasn't betrayed, she was mad. Who was Remus, thinking that he had some sort of absurd right to meddle in her life from afar? After a little while, she heard the door open.

"Syb?" Lily asked cautiously.

"Leave me alone, please." She replied, her voice hollow. There was silence for a moment, and then the door closed. As the aching pain of tears wracked her torso, she rolled over and exhaled shakily.

Now she had a good reason not to go out with Sirius Back.

Shame that now, after his heartfelt confession, that she wanted nothing more than to snog the living daylights out of him.

* * *

Relations with her brother then worsened. It started when she missed dinner, and sneaked to the kitchens to get some food. Stepping through the portrait hole, and into the room, the gladly noticed that it was devoid of all house elves, bar one who was tending the fire. When she entered, it looked up at her, its' eyes wide.

"How may Itchy help you?" It asked, timidly. She smiled at it- judging by the voice and the facial structure; she thought it was a girl.

"I-I missed dinner, I was wondering if I could please have a cup of tea?" She asked, choking back a hiccup. The elf nodded.

"Please sit, miss." She said, gesturing to a chair, before zooming around the kitchen to retrieve her tea. After a few moments, she was back, with a pot of tea, a cup and a plate of biscuits beside it.

"Thank you very much, Itchy."

The elf gave her a shy smile. "You're vey welcome, miss." After a moment, she said, "the biscuits are chocolate coated, miss, Itchy thought you looked upset, if you don't mind Itchy saying, miss." Sybil laughed darkly and poured herself some tea.

"I was rather, that's why I missed dinner. Thank you for noticing, Itchy." The elf blushed with joy of pleasing a student, and scuffled off happily to continue her chores. When the tea was finished, and the biscuits gone, she thanked Itchy and stood up to leave, when the portrait of the fruit bowl swung open, and she found herself nose to nose with Sirius Black.

Oh dear.

"Sirius," she said, casually, as her heart rate accelerated, and her palms and stomach flushed with excitement, she moved to walk past him, but found her brother blocking her path.

She gave him a steely gaze, and he looked like a deer between the headlights. After a moment, she realised that Itchy was by her side.

"Begging your pardon miss," she asked in her high voice, "but was this the person who made you sad, miss?" Sybil continued to stare at her brother, and after a moment nodded.

"Yes." Itchy then began scrunching up her face, and staring at her brother in concentration. After a moment, there was a puff of purple smoke, in front of a very confused looking Remus.

"Apologies Miss," Itchy squeaked, "but Itchy was never very good at spiteful magic, miss."

"Never mind, Itchy, but thank you for trying." And with that she shoved past Remus and stormed into the corridor. It took her a moment to realise that she was not alone, and Sirius was behind her. She looked at him glumly.

"And what do you want?" She asked. He looked at her nervously, and shuffled his feet.

"So, you heard, what we were talking about?" despite her mood, her heart beat faster, and she could feel a weird tingling sensation in her stomach. Could she say something? Should she? Yes, she should. Look at him! He's gorgeous, and going by the fact that he ditched his friends to make sure she was all right, he was an okay bloke, she knew he was nice, and she suddenly found that she had a crush on him, after four years, not to mention what she head him saying today. It can only be a good thing.

"I-" But then she noticed the hickey on his neck. Her head spun, and she shook it limply. "Only heard what Remus said. Didn't hear you." And with that she rounded the corner, and left him standing in the middle of the corridor- alone, with his head hung.

* * *

_Dear Walter, _

Sybil wrote, her quill scratching the parchment noisily. The dying lights of the common room lit her page dimly, but she was determined to finish before the Marauders returned from the kitchens.

_As I hope you can tell, I'm cross with you, because I addressed this to Walter, and not to Dad. I hope you're having fun at home not trusting me; I'm having fun here not being trusted by you or Hairy. Have you searched my room yet? How come you didn't ask me to watch out for him, speaking of the git, yet you seemed to be under the impression that I was incapable of making good decisions. He's a whole eight minutes younger than me, shouldn't I be looking after him? FYI, I'm not coming home for Christmas. _

_Sincerely, _

_Sybil Lupin._

She folded the letter, and sealed it, then strapped it to Thor's foot, and opened the window for him.

Knowing Walter, she would have a reply by the morning.

* * *

_**Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been a bit busy, but since I've been on Pottermore (Hufflepuff, yo! Never thought I was particularly modest, but whatever...), I've been writing HP stuff like mad.  
Speaking of which, I'm working on a new story (George/OC, Fremione), and that, juggled with my Downton Abbey stuff has me a bit frazzled, but I'm working through it.  
Secondly, I've been converted from a Ronmione shipper to a Fredmione *DON'T HIT ME!* so I'm going to be converting this story as well. If you hate it, PLEASE DON'T STOP READING! It doesn't play a very big role!  
**_

_**THANK YOU FOR READING AND YOUR RESPONSE TO CHAPTER 2! PLEASE DROP A REVIEW, HUNNIES! THANK YOU! XX**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**I own nothing.**_

* * *

Sybil ran full pelt to the dungeons, and burst in through the door, panting from her efforts. To her delight, she had not missed any of the lesson, but to her great dismay, her usual seat, one over from the wall, with Lily beside her, was taken up by James Potter, trapping Lily between him and the cold grey bricks. Remus and Peter looked on at James' attempted seduction in amusement, while Sirius looked rather annoyed at having been flung aside so suddenly. Sybil dropped into the seat beside him, causing him to start.

"What's with that?" She asked in annoyance, pointing to the scene beside them. "Does he have no boundaries?"

"He's in love," Sirius defended, "Love has no boundaries!" surprised at this sudden speech from a boy, who had a lipstick marks on his collar, and a piece of male anatomy drawn on his parchment, captioned 'Snivellus'.

"Of course love has boundaries." Sybil, replied after a moment. "Love doesn't care whether you're with somebody else or not, love doesn't care about how you feel, love doesn't care about your family situation, love _happens_, and sometimes, if it's kind, it'll leave you be." Sirius turned on her, a strange kind of expression in his eyes.

"Being on the wrong end of love sucks royal hippogriff, yeah. But being in love in the best thing in the world. The pain is the only kind of pain that people will go back for time and time again. Being in love… it makes it all worthwhile."

"How would you know, mister hickey?" She snapped. He looked at her for a long moment, interrupted by Professor Slughorn's usual belly first routine into the classroom. She turned away from him, and after a minute, she realised he was still looking at her. When she looked back, he was facing the other way.

* * *

"Alright, let's do this thing!" She cried happily, moving her finger down the long list of ingredients necessary to create the potion commonly used to cure untamed hiccupping syndrome.

"Right, I'll grab these ones, and you get those, and we can get going!" She grinned at him and skipped over to the store cupboard and began rooting through it.

A few minutes later, she was chopping up aged mandrake root into precariously sized pieces, while Sirius was skinning a flobberworm with all the elegance and grace of a German jazz band.

"What are you doing to that poor thing?" she asked, horrified as the tail went flying and landed in Gilderoy's hair, causing him to shriek and squeal in terror.

"Skinning it!" Sirius snapped grumpily, relinquishing his grip and tossing his knife down on the board. "But if you'd rather do it-"

"Why are you having a go at me? What did I do?" She asked, leaping to her feet. He stared at her again, with that funny look in his eyes, and she frowned. "You're annoyed that James ditched you for a girl, aren't you?" she asked. The intensity of his gaze did not falter for a moment, until it softened visibly.

"Yeah," he muttered, "Yeah, that must be it." She smiled kindly and poked him in the stomach (with her finger, not the root-chopping knife).

"Well, we'll just have to be even more awesome to make up for it then, ey? Friends shouldn't ditch." He smiled briefly and nodded. "Now, you'd best go and get another flobberworm." She turned back to her roots and continued to work at them, humming 'Ave Maria' under breath, until she became aware that both Lily and James had ceased their work and were looking at her.

"What?" She asked, frowning.

"That was pitiful." James stated.

"Hey, Ave Maria is infamous for its high vocal range, and for an amateur, I though I did a pretty good job!"

"Not that, you dingbat, Sirius!" Lily interjected.

"Oh."

"Don't you see what just happened?"

"Yes!" She turned to James, "You shouldn't just up and ditch him because you rather be-"

"That's not what he was cross about!"

"Well than what?"

"What you said about him not knowing what it was like to be in love." She thought for a moment, taking this in.

"Really, I guess that might have been a bit harsh…"

At this point Sirius returned holding a recent flobberworm, in faint disgust.

"It looks like a muggle squishy toy. Only… slimy. And worm shaped."

"And it flobbers." Sybil put in, with a grin.

* * *

"…and three stirs counter-clockwise." Sirius read out of the book. Sybil followed his instructions, then set stirring rod down on the bench, and set about decanting the greeny-bluey metallic liquid into a small vial.

"Sirius," she began after a moment.

"Yeah?"

"We're friends, aren't we?" she asked, albeit a bit nervously. He frowned a little bit, his eyebrows crinkling cutely- shut up, Sybil!

"Course! Why?"

"I just, don't want you to think that I think that you're a total git, because of what I said before about you not knowing what love was like-"

"It's fine." He assured her quickly, waving it away. "It doesn't matter, honestly." She smiled, and felt a surge of relief.

"Oh, good." She felt a feeling of sincere relief spreading through her, and she nodded vigorously. Apparently sensing her nervousness, he pushed himself off the desk, and swept her into a bear hug. She giggled a bit, and after a quick moment, hugged him back timidly. Something in her stomach began tugging, and she felt weaker and more vulnerable than she had before, but in a good way. They broke apart, and grinned awkwardly at each other, before she continued sealing the vile holding their Hiccuping-serum.

"I'll take it." Sirius offered, gently grasping it, and wandering up to the front of the classroom.

"Psst!" Sybil turned to face Lily, who pointed to James, who made a slow motion demonstration of slapping his hand to his forehead. She frowned in confusion, and turned away, spotting Remus staring at her in a pained sort of way. She snapped her fingers at him.

"You, shut up."

"I didn't say anything!"

"You were thinking really loudly."

* * *

Sirius wasn't at dinner. He stomped forcefully up the stairs in a sweep of black Hogwarts robe, the second they reached the entrance hall. For some reason, this made Sybil feel quite odd, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why that was. Lunch was no better. She endured a rather long time of scolding, shrieking, agreeing on a topic from James and Lily ("You two actually agreed on something! You make a good team." "Do not!") and jesting from the aforementioned, not to mention her brother, Peter, Frank, Alice and Emelinne, all of which came to an abrupt halt when she was cornered by Gilderoy Lockheart.

"Well hello there, Miss Lupin." He drawled in a charming fashion. "That was quite a show, you put on in there!"

She looked at him as though he had grown two heads- which, with the amount of product he put in his hair would not be at all surprising, nor any stranger for him.

"What in the name of all things hol-"

"With Black!" He cried, giving her a cheeky wink. "Trying to make me jealous, were we?"

She spluttered in indignation.

"Have you gone completely and utterly barmy?"

"Oh, in denial then? Don't worry, my sweet, it'll all fall into place soon." And with that he walked away.

* * *

"He said-"

"Yes."

"He called you-"

"Yes."

"He thought that-"

"Yes."

"Is he completely-"

"Yes."

"You poor thing! That must have been awful!"

"Yes."

"Are you alright?"

"Y-no! I haven't stopped shuddering since! I'm in an eternal state of shudder! I think I involuntarily gagged! It's weird, it's creepy, it's just plain rude!"

"Syb-"

"It's presumptuous, it's insulting, it's discriminative, it's sexist-"

"Sybil-"

"It's patronising, it's condescending, it's awkward, it's disgusting-"

"Sybil-"

"I think I need to shower and get this day off me!"

"What's wrong, for the love of Merlin?!" James cried, taking a seat beside her in front of the common room fire.

"Uh-" Sybil choked out, before burying her face in her friend's shoulder.

"What?" He cried, clearly worried.

"She got hit on by Lockheart, today." Lily explained, causing Sybil to make a retching noise and shudder.

"Ew." James muttered, scrunching up his nose. "That's creepy."

"You reckon?" Lily cried sarcastically, "It's not just creepy, it's a complete disaster!" She threw her arms into the air and waved them around manically while she was speaking, then fell back into the chair dramatically.

"What's a disaster?" Asked Sirius, approaching their spot from behind, followed closely by Remus and Peter, while Alice and Emmeline trailed behind them after a moment, having noticed the gathering.

"Lockheart hit on Sybil."

A small wave of shock passed through the group, broken only by Alice and Emelinne bursting into a fit of giggles. The rest of the group swivelled around to stare at them.

"It's not funny!" Sybil cried, throwing her hands up in the air in aggravation. This however, only succeeded in making the duo laugh even harder. While the males cast mystified looks at each other, the decibel level of Alice and Emmeline laughs rose to pure shrieking.

"And, and, and, and, and, you can have his babies!" Alice burst out randomly, causing Emmeline to slide down onto the carpet, curling up into a ball of shaking mirth. "And one will be a boy, Gilderoy, of course, after his father." James piped up, "and the other will be Ginevera, also after her father-"

"And they'll both have blonde hair that they fuss over between classes, and flip all the time-"

"And you can floo them to junior Quidditch practice-"

"And they'll bawl every time the broom goes a metre off the ground-"

"And your house will pictures of him everywhere-"

"Signed by his legion of devoted fans-"

"And every night you'll brush his hair for him-"

"One hundred strokes before bed-"

"With his special dwarf beard hair brush-"

"While he puts on his face mask-"

This proved to be too much for- well- everybody, save she and Sirius, who watched in bemusement as everybody around them fell around in hysterics.

"Walk?" Sirius asked her, after a moment.

"God, yes."

The two of them bolted for the portrait hole.

* * *

The two of them strolled leisurely through the darkening grounds, exercising their later fifth year curfew.

"Would you like me to punch him?"

Sirius suddenly offered out of the blue. Sybil turned her head so fast her neck cracked, and it took a moment to realise whom he was speaking of.

"What? No! Thank you for the offer, but no violence!"

"Suit yourself."

After some silence, she threaded her arm through his, in a friendly gesture to ease the tension that had been brewing all day.

"Besides, his screams would probably bring the castle down." They both chuckled slightly, and continued their walk in companionable silence.

"So," Sirius began, "apart form Lockhart, anybody on your lurve list?"

"He's not on my-"

"Joking!"

"Oh."

There was a slightly awkward pause.

"Well?"

"Oh, erm, well, nobody really, at the moment."

"Really?" He asked, brow raised. "Nobody?"

"Well, not since that thing with Derek last year."  
"Oh, the Hufflepuff kid?" Sirius asked, mildly interested.

"Yeah, we dated for a little while."

"That's interesting." He muttered, more to himself than her.

"Why?"

"I'd been wondering for a while why we sneaked into his room and stuffed his bed with firecrackers."

"That was you?!"

The two of them laughed and joked as they slowly made their way across the grounds. Unbeknownst to them, a lone figure was watching them from the Gryffindor common room window. He sighed heavily and moved away.

Now two of the people he cared most about had to be hurt.

* * *

_**Apologies for the wait! Thank you to all who have shown support and given me feedback, it means a lot :)  
I hope you have enjoyed this one!**_

_**Please review Xx**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**I own nothing.**_

* * *

The storm clouds were brewing. Not any of the six knew it, so to say, but it began on the Tuesday before Christmas break.

It was the typical perfectly innocent scene, of which one would expect nothing other than simply what would usually transpire in it.

At least until Severus' trousers were around his ankles in the middle of breakfast. That was a bit of a turn up for the books.

The culprit being none other than Sirius Black- with one flick of his wand, an enraged cry rose from the other side of the hall, causing many people to whip around in curiosity. Severus standing in his underwear was a slightly horrific sight to say the least, causing Sybil to flinch. Severus, however, whose underwear had been transfigured into those of possibly a stripper (a female one, possibly with a fetish for dazzling gold), was entirely scarring. Sybil threw down her spoon, and shuddered, Lily doing the same, though in a less obvious way.

This prank was possibly not one of the most cruel the marauders had yet played on poor Sev, but apparently it was the straw that broke the dragon's back, so to speak, for a moment later a (thankfully) fully clothed Severus marched over to the Gryfindor table, to where Sirius sat with a crowd of laughing friends, and swung a punch at his with all his might. Silence fell across the hall, in a moment of stunned comprehension. How foolish was one who assaulted another, in front of the eyes of all of Hogwarts, and a table full of teachers to say the least. But even more foolish, was he to pull out his wand and initiate a duel, to which Sirius naturally complied.

"What is wrong with him?" Sybil shrieked, over the cheering and shouts of the surrounding students,

"Which one?"

"…Either! Both! Why, for the love of Merlin would he join in?"

"Testosterone!" Lily shouted back. Though efforts from teachers were made to stop the fight, a gathering riot ensued, until suddenly everything went into slow motion. Everybody saw it, teachers, students, ghosts, headmaster, owls, cats, and assorted pixies too. Severus raised his wand and uttered a quiet incantation, which Sirius smartly blocked as he would any other curse. The pure hatred on Severus' face vanished, as his spell returned to him, and he did not have time to dodge. Severus was blown back several feet into the air, and landed at Lily and Sybil's feet, in great pain.

"Sev?" Lily asked, bending down to examine his face.

"Lily!" Shrieked Sybil into the silence- pointing to Severus's blood stained clothes. After a moment, Sirius was beside her, his face pale with shock.  
"Holy hell!" He shouted, as Severus continued to bleed steadily. The students surrounding them burst out into their own sort of noise- shouting, screaming, relaying the event, while Sybil and Lily attempted to stem the blood flow.

All the while, Severus lay there, knowing exactly what was happening to him, and grinning maliciously at Sirius the entire time.

* * *

Severus and Sirius had been swept out of the great hall seconds later, and the students dismissed to their classes. The school was writhing with gossip, and Sybil was miserable.

No efforts from Lily, Alice, James, Remus nor Emmeline could make her less nervous, not even when her brother offered to admit he was wrong (she knew he was lying though, considering her distress). She didn't listen to the teachers, she blew up her cauldron, she tripped over a first year, and burnt away her papers before lunchtime, at which point she sprinted to Professor McGonagall's office, with promise to bring news back to everybody else.

"He's been sent home early." Professor McGonagall informed her.

"But he didn't do it! Severus sent it at him, and he blocked it! It's the very definition of self defense!" McGonagall nodded tiredly.

"Yes, I know! I saw it too! But he started a fight leading to injury of a fellow student, which is unacceptable. The terms of his innocence has been stressed highly in the letter I sent home to his parents-" The expression on Sybil's face shocked her into a stunned silence. After a moment, she stumbled back into a chair, her breathing somewhat more laboured, and her heart racing.

"Oh, no." She whispered.

"Miss Lupin? What's the matter?"

"You sent him home."

"And? I really do not see-"

"When he was six, he drew on the walls. They hung him by his ankles from the light fitting for three hours."

"Oh, no." The Professor whispered, in a similar, if not identical fashion to Sybil.

* * *

Their corner of the common room was silent, as Sybil imparted the news.

"Serves him right." Came the response, after a moment, from the person they least expected it to.

"What?" Peter asked James, aghast.

"How could you say that?" Cried Sybil. "He'd be worried if the same thing happened to you!"

"They've been fighting." Remus supplied, while Sybil refused to acknowledge him.

"About what?" Lily asked, worriedly. Though she was angry at their many attempts to bruise Severus' emotional balance, she cared about the Marauders (bar James… apparently…) in her own special way.

"Nothing, not important." James muttered jumping to his feet and ruffling his hand through his hair. He opened his mouth to say something, but decided not to and ran upstairs.

"They're going to kill him." Remus stated quietly.

"Or worse." Sybil put in.

"What could be worse than death?" Peter asked. Sybil looked at him darkly.

"Lots of things."

* * *

"Morning, you two." Severus greeted as he hobbled over the courtyard, past several students looking at him curiously.

"God!" Sybil groaned under her breath, mostly due to his presence, and partly because he'd blatantly ignored Alice, Frank, Emmeline and Marlene (somewhat resembling a thirties showgirl, but don't tell her you think so, or she'll clobber you).

"Be nice." Lily warned quietly.

"Fat chance." Sybil responded. After a moment, he reached them, and Sybil inconspicuously moved behind Frank, whose beater's build shielded her from sight.

"How are you?" Lily asked tentatively into the awkward silence.

"I'm fine, still a bit sore, though."

"Oh." There was a bit of silence.

"Were's Black? I'm assuming he was punished?"

"Yeah- how about you?"

"Of course, but it begins after the holidays, seeing as today is the last day." He responded smugly. "Where's Sybil?" he asked, before Lily could interject. Sybil peered around Frank, attracting Severus' attention.

"Oh, hello there, what're you doing?"

She merely glared at him.

"Oh, dear, what's wrong with her?" he asked Lily.

"She's a bit cross with you." Lily muttered, looking at the ground. After a moment's tense silence, Frank spoke.

"Hey Alice, want to go for a walk?" As a desperate attempt at an escape.

"Don't you fecking dare." Marlene threatened, trapping Alice's arm in a death grip, from which nothing, man nor beast could escape.

"Why's she cross with me?' Severus asked, oblivious to the others, and addressing Lily.

"Because of what you tried to do to Sirius." Sybil stated drily.

"I almost died!" Severus protested.

"You never even did." Snapped Sybil angrily.

"Then why-"

"Because you tried to use it on him in the first place! It was your spell, not his!"

"But I-"

"DIDN'T DUCK IN TIME!" She bellowed, startling several people around her. "You tried to attack him in a very dangerous way, which far exceeds the level of what they've ever done to you." She snarled.

"They've humiliated me! Do you know how many times-"

"Rise above it!" She shrieked (she was doing a lot of that lately), "don't tempt them! Stop being all bloody high and mighty and face up to the face that you basically ask for it!"

"They're below my worth." He informed her, nose in the air. His shields were going up- his trust in her was deteriorating, while her in his was crumbling to ruins. Suddenly, she lunged forwards, gripped the front of his robes, and pulled his face closer to hers.

"Listen, you, I know that you tried to hurt Sirius, and now you're pulling your superior shit on me. If that's how you really feel, then I suggest you take a long walk off a short pier, Snivelly." And with that, she tossed his robes down, making him stumble, and marched off in another direction.

* * *

The compartment door rattled open, and Sybil looked up from her Charms homework to see her brother. She observed him for a moment, and then turned back to her homework. He sighed noisily, and sat on the seat in front of her. From the floor, her eyes were level to his knees.

"Syb, this is getting ridiculous."

She ignored him.  
"Sybil, please come home for Christmas."

No response.

He sighed in irritation.

"Dad's really sorry." And after an awkward pause. "I am too."

On a piece of parchment, she scribbled.

'_But you still think you're right.'_

He smiled gleefully.

"So you're talking to me, now then?"

She glared, and wrote some more.

'_Do you hear words coming from my mouth, Moon boy?' _He butted his head back against the seat.

"Look, I still think I'm right, but, can't we just agree to disagree? You have to admit it, you miss me. I know, because I miss you too."

She continued to ignore him.

"Are you going to continue to act immaturely until I give in?"

'_Yes.'_

He groaned, and flopped onto the seat, burying his face in his hands.

"Sybil, I'm trying to fix things! Sirius is talking to me still- he's not cross."

'_Haven't you got prefect duties to attend to?'_

"James is looking after them for me."

'_Is that possibly, the most stupid thing you've ever done?'_

"Maybe! Look, Sirius isn't mad-"

'_Get the fuck out of this compartment before I smack you into the new year.'_

"Fine!" He snapped, standing up and crossing over to the door, "I'll just tell Dad that you didn't come home for Christmas because you were too busy holding a petty grudge to spend time with your family."

'_Thank you.' _

"You're insufferable!"

'_You should know- it was your uterus too.' _

He made an angry sort of noise and walked out, slamming the door behind him. After a moment, James wandered in, and flopped down on the seats Remus had recently abandoned, tossing her a pumpkin pasty.

"How goes, Sybie-boo?"

"Not great, Jamesey-bear."

"Arguing with Remus?"

"Yeah. Apparently I'm insufferable and petty."

"Oh, that again… are the creepy nicknames pissing him off?"

"Quite, Jamesy-bear." She said, with a grin and a wink. "Aren't you meant to be covering for Remus?"

"I got Peter to do it."

"Is that possibly the most stupid thing you've ever done?"

"Maybe."

After a comfortable silence, in which he chewed, and she scratched on her parchment, he asked,

"Hey Syb,"

"Mmm?"

"You know how we met, at the start of the year?"

"Yeah, I was there too."

"How come you started being nice to us? Like, we knew you, and all, but we didn't know you, if you know what I mean- quite frankly, we thought you hated us." She nodded, and leaned back against the opposite seats.

"Back, then, I kept my distance."

"…why?"

"Because you lot were total creeps. And in third year, I had a total crush on Sirius, and then he became a man whore, and it was just embarrassing."

"What?" James asked, sitting up and swinging his legs off the seat.

"Well you were always pranking Sever- Snivellus, and you came off as tools, but now that I know you, I know you're not."

"But that bit about Sirius?"

"What of it? Hasn't every girl in our year?"

This seemed to put James out a bit, and he slumped back in his seat. "And I sat with you on the train, was because you seemed okay, and I figured that you lot might have grown up a bit, and because of Lily and you, so…"

"Lily and me what?" He asked, leaning forward enthusiastically. Sybil cast a worried glance towards the door, and then told him in a hushed undertone,  
"You two totally have my support. You'd be so cute together!" She squealed. He grinned goofily.

"Really?"

"Hell yeah! And your babies would be the coolest kids ever! They'd be smart and funny! The whole package… in a non-creepy way." Both of them dissolved into fits of laughter, in companionable friendship.

* * *

Thirty six year old Sybil lifted the year old framed cutting from the prophet of Harry Potter and Gilderoy Lockheart (who had been trimmed out of the picture) from the sideboard, and smiled slightly.

* * *

A little while later, the door of the compartment slid open, and Marlene sauntered in. Sybil and Marlene had been close for years now, though they both had other friends whom they were closer to. Sybil was surprised, though not shocked when Marlene entered, gripped James' ear, and hauled him out of the compartment, slamming the door and flicking the lock behind him.

"Hey!" He shouted in indignation.

"Girl stuff!" Marlene shouted back, in her Irish brogue, pulling the blind shut violently. Marlene was certainly a special child. She had honey blonde curly hair, which she wore short, curling up around her ears, with straight bangs. She always wore pencilled on eyebrows, a truckload of eyeliner, mascara, false eyelashes and purple eye shadow, and dark red lipstick. That, added to her affinity with drop earrings, low cut dresses and legs longer than troll's bogies was what gave Marlene her signature impression of being a '30s showgirl.

"Something to share?" Sybil asked, leaning backwards against the opposite seat, as Marlene occupied the one James had been so recently evicted from.

"I fecking hate Fiona Gregg."

"Join the club."

They sat there in silence, while Marlene started glumly out of the window.

"Marls?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened to Craig patrol?"

"I got Peter to cover it." There was a slight pause.

"Peter? To stop your boyfriend Craig snogging Angela Wilkins?"

"Yes."

"…Craig with the anger issues."

"Yes."

"Craig who's six foot four, with a neck like a tree trunk?"

"Yes."

"Versus tactless, four foot six Peter, who somewhat resembles a teddy bear?"

"Yes."

"Is that possibly the stupidest thing you've ever done?"

"Maybe."

"But you did it anyway?"

"Because I hate Fiona Gregg!"

"Right, back to that then." After some more formidable silence, during which rain drummed loudly on the windows, and Marlene continued staring:

"Marls?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you hate my brother's girlfriend?"

Marlene did not respond, just continued staring.

It took eight point three seconds.

"No!" Sybil cried, leaping to her feet.

"Yes." Marlene replied miserably.

"Remus?" Sybil enquired incredulously.

"Yes."

"YOU FANCY MY BROTHER?"  
"Yes."

Sybil mouthed like a goldfish for a moment, before sinking down numbly onto the seat opposite.

"But- but you-"

"I don't have feelings. Emotions are weird."

"But-"

"Much less for boys. This is-"

At this point, the door flew open to reveal Severus brandishing his wand, obviously having swept open the door with magic, conquering the lock.

"Out." Sybil barked, leaping to her feat again, her jaw clenching at the sight of the boy who was no longer her friend. Severus did not move. "I said-"

"Get out." Marlene ordered softly, eyeing Severus with a death glare. Severus quickly (and wisely) vanished, leaving Sirius' brother Regulus behind, staring pointedly at Sybil.

"And what do you want?" She snapped. After a moment, he smiled softly- god he looked like his brother, though the strange feelings she felt when Sirius smiled at her didn't bubble to the surface this time.

"I was only wondering if there's a message you wanted me to pass on to Sirius when I get home?" Sybil placed her palm over her scalp, and rested the other on her hip, thinking for a moment.

"Tell him… Come back safely to Hogwarts, and Lily's sorry- but I can't lend him my book." Regulus eyed her as though she were mad, and after a moment, he smiled politely, and walked briskly away. Sybil reached forwards, and slammed the door behind him, seating herself back down gently on the floor.

"What the feck were that?" Marlene enquired subtly.

"It's a code. One valid word spaced by two of absolute waffle, and a phrase representing an obvious statement. I said 'Come to Lily's', and the book-lending thing meant 'if you need to.'

In response to Sybil's sharing of this ingenious and perfectly interesting code, Marlene slumped back into the seat with a tired groan. "Well mmmmmmphuhmph to you too!" Sybil muttered, going back to her homework. Soon after, Lily wandered in, and sat elegantly on the seat behind Sybil.

"What happened to Jamesey-bear?" Sybil enquired, causing Lily to roll her eyes.

"Peter stopped covering him, and your brother buggered off to suck face with-" She was interrupted by Marlene letting out a strangled shriek of fury, and leaping up, storming out of the compartment. A group of first years standing in the corridor did not quite scatter in time, and several of them went flying backward by Marlene's hand, landing in a big pile of groaning limbs, while Marlene's shrieks of rage and loud footsteps disappeared down the corridor.

"What was-"

"Don't even."

* * *

The train slowed to a halt at platform nine and three quarters, and the familiar squeals of homecoming ensued. She followed Lily from the carriage, and onto the

Platform, both pulling their trunks behind them. Sybil spotted the Evans' instantly, and nudged Lily, pointing. Lily abandoned her trunk, and flew at her family with outstretched arms, Petunia sidestepping rom the hugging range pointedly. Sybil sighed and gripped the handle of Lily's trunk, when two strong arms encircled her waist from behind, and lifted her into the air.

"JAMES POTTER, PUT ME-"

"NO!" He shouted, squeezing her. She cried out as he spun her around, letting her drop roughly to her feet. "Didn't think you were leaving without saying goodbye?" He asked with a grin. She stared at him incredulously.

"What the _hell_ was that?"

"Well, my dear Padfoot is not here, so I-"

"Felt you needed to make up for the absence of dickish behaviour?"

"Exactly."

She rolled her eyes and huffed fondly, pulling him into a hug, and jabbing him in the gut quickly. He groaned, and doubled over in mock pain, and she ruffled his hair, which he immediately began to ruffle back to perfection, all acting evaporated. She laughed, and hefted Lily's trunk on top of her own, and picked up one handle, gesturing for him to get the other. He obliged happily, and helped her to drag them to where the Evans' stood.

"Sybil!" Mr Evans cried, collecting her in a large and ferocious hug. Mr Evan was a good hugger. "How lovely to see you again!" They broke apart, and turned to James. "And you must be Sybil's young man!" James and Sybil shared a look, and they both displayed the same reaction at the same time.

"Ew!" They chorused, shuddering pointedly. Lily roared with laughter, and slung her arms around both of their shoulders.

"Mum, Dad, Tuney, this is James, one of our friends. Please excuse his awful manners. James, this my mother, Mrs Evans, Mr father, Mr Evans, and my elder sister Petunia." Sybil raised an eyebrow at the formality of Lily's speech, but said nothing. James, however, extended his hand to Mrs Evans, then Mr Evans, and then Petunia, who was given so charming of a smile, that she grudgingly shook hands with him, and then wiped her palms on her skirt. James then turned to Sybil, and hugged her gently.

"Merry Christmas, Syb. Let me know if you hear from Padfoot."

"You too, James." He then turned to Lily, who put on her James face (a snarl of indifference), though that dropped off, and promptly turned to surprise when James offered her his hand.

"Have a wonderful Christmas, Lily." He offered, in a more reserved tone than normal. Lily did not move from shock for a moment, then limply shook his hand and made a noise of agreement. James waved and departed, hands in pockets. After Sybil had greeted Mr Evans, and they were making their way to the car, Lily turned to Sybil with a mystified expression.

"How is it, that when I can count on him to be the most arrogant, he turns into a perfect gentleman?"

"How indeed." Sybil murmured, with a small smirk, and an inconspicuous thumbs up to an anxious James.

* * *

As Lily chatted to her parents while the car sped through the busy London streets, Sybil gazed out of the polished window, and up into the sad grey sky.

'_Sirius,'_ she thought to herself, _'Please be all right.'_

She was suddenly roused from her stupor by a dark shape flying over the window, and pecking pointedly on the glass. Petunia screamed shrilly, though Sybil wound down the window all the same.

Unfastening the letter from the bird's leg, she stroked its head gently and fed it a stray jelly bean that had been lurking in her coat pocket since the last Hogsmeade weekend, before watching as it soared off majestically into the traffic.

"Who's it from?" Lily asked curiously, leaning over to look.

"Well maybe if you let me open it before asking questions, I could tell you." She teased, flipping the envelope over to see

'_Sybil-boo'_ scrawled messily in rushed handwriting. "James." She murmured, with a frown, before tearing away at the fold roughly. "We just talked on the train, I don't…"

She turned the envelope upside down and a single slip of paper fluttered out.

'_My folks talked to Sirius'- pure bloods, so they won't ignore them. He's been MIA since yesterday, stormed out with school trunk. Dad's looking into it- he's connected. Try not to worry, thought you ought to know- Jamesey-bear.'_

"Oh Merlin," she whispered, as Lily snatched the parchment from Sybil's limp hand, seeing how her face paled and shoulders began to tremble. "Please be all right." She repeated, some sort of desperation filling her hushed tone.

* * *

_**Sorry it's so rubbish!  
Please favourite, follow, review! Xx**_


End file.
